Former West Ham striker Carlton Cole is convinced the club's academy is back on track.

The likes of Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst, Trevor Brooking, Rio Ferdinand and Frank Lampard have come through the youth ranks at the self-styled 'Academy of Football' since the 1960s.

"West Ham went a bit stale for a good few years," said Cole, now a technical coach inside the youth system, to the Daily Mail. "The last person to properly make it was Jack Collison or James Tomkins.

"Zavon Hinds did okay. Freddie Sears has gone and made a good career for himself elsewhere. After that it went stale. It is hard to make it in the Premier League.

"Now, you can see the likes of Declan Rice, Grady Diangana, and recently Ben Johnson who made a first team debut up at Manchester City, which was a very proud moment.

"We have a few good younger boys - Conor Coventry we're hoping to feed in soon. There is a lot going on at West Ham and these are exciting times with out new state of the art facilities down at Chadwell Heath."